India is giving serious consideration to changing its supporting vote for the Palestinian Authority proposal to expel the Israel Defense Force from all territory conquered in the 1967 Six Day war by 2017, according to The Hindu newspaper.
If India takes such a step, it will be a major change in the country’s foreign policy, which until now has supported the PA in UN votes.
But India is one of Israel’s most important customers in the market for military hardware, and the two nations have tightened ties in recent years. Nevertheless, India has continued to ignore Israel when the chips are down at the UN, and Jerusalem has started to remind its ally that friends don’t treat friends that way.
The PA resolution was submitted to the United Nations Security Council last Wednesday by Jordan. Although it requires a majority of nine votes to pass, the measure can still be vetoed by any of the five permanent members of the Council.
Speaking at a Hanukkah-lighting ceremony with IDF soldiers at a base near Latrun, Netanyahu made it clear that Israel would not allow international pressure to endanger the lives of its citizens.
“In this struggle that we are in, Israel is being attacked on two fronts simultaneously. It is being attacked by the terrorism of Hamas and the other terrorist organizations. It is also under a diplomatic attack led by the Palestinian Authority and which is designed to deny us our very right to defend ourselves and seeks to deny us the legitimacy of our very existence. We are rebuffing both of these attacks.
“Over the weekend we sent a clear message to Hamas – we are not prepared to countenance the firing of even one rocket and we are responding accordingly and in strength. We also have a clear message to those who are leading the diplomatic assault against us.
“It could be that the Palestinians will, in the very near future, submit to the UN Security Council their proposal to unilaterally force on Israel the establishment of a Palestinian state as well as other conditions that are unacceptable to us.
“We expect the responsible elements in the international community to reject this proposal; in any case, we will vigorously oppose it and will, of course, not act in accordance with any diktat.”